Asset Servicing

Last Friday, it finally happened: Moody’s—the last credit rating agency still holding on to a shred of faith in Uncle Sam—downgraded the United States from AAA to Aa1. America is now officially among the ranks of “almost-but-not-quite-perfect” countries. It’s a bit like a high school student going from a 10 to a 9.5—still excellent, but mom and dad are disappointed nonetheless.

The rise of Eltif 2.0 and private market retail access is exposing a critical weakness: legacy reporting systems that cannot meet modern client expectations.

The US economy contracted at a rate of 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2025. The slowdown in GDP growth was driven by a surge in imports, as US firms attempted to front-run tariffs. The first-quarter decline marks a sharp turn for the economy after GDP grew at a 2.4 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2024.

In the world of finance, averages are useless. Concepts like extrapolation, correlation, and diversification do little more than invite disaster—or, at the very least, significantly lower returns than are otherwise achievable. “Modern portfolio theory is bullshit,” declared Nassim Taleb, the legendary author of The Black Swan.

Remember that BBC quiz show with the notoriously blunt Anne Robinson, who ended each round with the line, “You are the weakest link. Goodbye”? In The Weakest Link, the contestant deemed weakest by the others was eliminated—on the logic that a weak player could damage the prize pot. That sounds rather economic. So why is the European Central Bank (ECB) doing the exact opposite?

Private equity firm Astorg, headquartered in Luxembourg, has announced a change in senior leadership, appointing Benjamin Cordonnier as chief executive officer.

Markets are celebrating the news that the United States and China have agreed on Monday to sharply reduce import duties for 90 days. Whether they’re right to do so is another matter.

As Europe boosts defence spending and investors adapt to geopolitical uncertainty, Allianz Global Investors has adjusted its sustainability criteria to include certain defence-related investments. Firms with more than 10 percent of their turnover from defence equipment and those that produce nuclear weapons now are considered eligible.

This week’s overview of people transfers and appointments in and around Luxembourg includes updates from the Luxembourg Capital Markets Association, law firm Linklaters, the International Securities Services Association (ISSA), and CBRE.

Can private clients still trust that their bank’s advice is objective when that bank also owns a stake in the fund house behind the recommended products? The question is becoming more pressing across Europe, including Luxembourg, where private banks and fund distributors sit at the crossroads of European asset flows.